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Hockey

Fresh start for Sicoly...Saginaw in trade mode

Sault Ste. Marie product Nicolas Sicoly has joined the Aberdeen Wings of the North American Hockey League, as first reported by the website HockeyNewsNorth.com.

The 1998-birth-year left winger played the past two seasons with the Guelph Storm of the Ontario Hockey League and scored 10 goals in 130 games on a lowly team that missed the playoffs in both 2015-2016 and 2016-2017.

The speedy, 5-foot-9, 170-pound Sicoly was released by Guelph prior to the start of the 2017-2018 campaign after George Burnett took over as coach and general manager of the Storm.

With the 2017-2018 season underway and no present opportunities for Sicoly to latch on with another OHL team, his adviser, David Maciuk of JDM Sports, told Sault This Week that “Nic just wants to play and the NAHL is a very good junior league and Aberdeen has a good reputation as a junior hockey franchise.

“Nic is a mature kid who wants to take advantage of the opportunity to play for a great coach like Scott Langer in Aberdeen,” Maciuk added.

Over 13-plus seasons as a head coach in the NAHL, Langer is one of the most successful bench bosses in league history with a winning percentage of close to .700.

Langer took Aberdeen through three rounds of the NAHL playoffs last spring.

As for Sicoly, he is looking forward to getting back into game routine out in the South Dakota town of Aberdeen.

“I love hockey. I want to play badly,” Sicoly told Postmedia. “I really missed being on the ice and playing in games. I want to help Aberdeen and contribute to them winning in any way I can.”

SPIRIT ADDS CENTER

Youth-laden Saginaw Spirit has filled its third overage spot by obtaining center Mason Kohn from the Oshawa Generals for a fourth-round pick at the 2020 OHL draft.

Kohn, who is originally from Florida, joins goalie Evan Cormier and defenceman Marcus Crawford as Saginaw’s trio of overagers.

Saginaw general manager Dave Drinkill said Kohn adds some needed experience to the Spirit lineup.

“As an organization we felt it was very important to fill our last (overage) spot with a player that has a lot of experience in this league, a high compete level and a high work ethic,” Drinkill relayed.

“Mason will help our leadership group mentor and grow the young players we have assembled. His compete level is off the charts.”

Kohn, who began his OHL career with the Kitchener Rangers in 2013 playing for current Saginaw coach Troy Smith, had totaled 44 goals and 128 points in 250 games prior to being acquired by Saginaw.